FACEBOOK SATISFACTION, LIFE SATISFACTION: MALAYSIAN ...

Jurnal KomunikasiMalaysian Journal of Communication

Jilid 31(2) 2015: 649-671

FACEBOOK SATISFACTION, LIFE SATISFACTION: MALAYSIAN

UNDERGRADUATE EXPERIENCE

Hamedi M. Adnan & Samira Rahimi MaviUniversiti Malaya

AbstractThe central aim of this study was to investigate an approach whereby students’ online social networking produces positive psychological outcomes. Basically, Facebook is a social site that is open to all and closely integrated into the daily experience of most undergraduate students in Malaysia. This study conducted to analyse the association between the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent on Facebook with life satisfaction. The purpose of the current study was to investigate what gratifications Malaysian students obtain from Facebook uses. The present study also probed to find out whether gratification obtaining from Facebook uses predicts life satisfaction. In doing so, the theory of the uses and gratification and the theory of the life satisfaction were adopted as theoretical frame work. Our findings of 798 participants, conducting a factor analysis, explored respectively the following gratifications behind Facebook uses: entertainment, communication, social investigation social attention, shared identity and information seeking. Furthermore, using the regression equation, this study failed to find direct association between number of Facebook friends and amount of time using with life satisfaction. The number of Facebook friends while controlling by Facebook motivations could predict life satisfaction. So, it is propounded the view that general uses of social networking sites don’t meet the psychological effects, but the type of certain interaction is the matter. Finally, the findings of this study detected shared identity and social attention as two obtaining gratification that predicted students’ life satisfaction.

Jurnal KomunikasiMalaysian Journal of CommunicationJilid 31(2) 2015: 649-671

650

Keywords: Facebook, Uses and Gratifications Theory, life satisfaction, college students, Malaysian undergraduate

KEPUASAN FACEBOOK, KEPUASAN HIDUP: PENGALAMAN PELAJAR PRASISWAZAH

MALAYSIA

AbstrakTujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan sama ada rangkaian sosial dalam talian pelajar menghasilkan hasil psikologi yang positif. Facebook adalah sebuah laman sosial yang terbuka kepada semua dan disepadukan ke dalam pengalaman harian kebanyakan pelajar di Malaysia. Dalam kajian ini, analisis dibuat untuk mengesan kaitan antara jumlah rakan-rakan Facebook dan jumlah masa yang dihabiskan di Facebook dengan kepuasan hidup mereka. Tujuan kajian adalah untuk menyelidiki apa-apa yang diperoleh pelajar Malaysia daripada menggunakan Facebook. Kajian ini juga dilakukan untuk mengetahui sama ada kepuasan daripada penggunaan Facebook dapat menentukan kepuasan hidup. Untuk itu, teori kegunaan dan kepuasan dan teori kepuasan hidup digunakan. Kajian terhadap 798 responden dengan menggunakan analisis factor ini mendapati kepuasan dalam penggunaan Facebook yang berikut: hiburan, komunikasi, perhatian sosial, penyiasatan sosial, kesamaan identiti dan maklumat yang dicari. Dengan menggunakan persamaan regresi, kajian ini bagaimanapun gagal untuk mencari kaitan langsung antara bilangan rakan Facebook dengan jumlah masa penggunaan dengan kepuasan hidup. Bilangan rakan dalam laman sosial ini sementara mengawal motivasi Facebook, boleh meramalkan kepuasan hidup. Dapat disimpulkan bahawa kegunaan umum laman rangkaian sosial tidak memenuhi kesan psikologi, tidak seperti jenis interaksi tertentu. Akhir sekali, hasil kajian ini mengesan identiti kongsian dan perhatian sosial sebagai dua perolehan yang dapat meramalkan kepuasan hidup pelajar.

Kata kunci: Facebook, Teori Penggunaan dan Kepuasan, kepuasan hidup, pelajar kolej, pra-siswazah Malaysia

Facebook Satisfaction, Life Satisfaction: Malaysian Undergraduate Experience

Hamedi M. Adnan & Samira Rahimi Mavi

651

INTRODUCTION In today’s world of new technologies, social networking sites have contributed much to the greater role of the Internet. They have obviously become essential parts of human being interactions. A great number of users log on to Facebook every day. As reported by Facebook source by September 2013, there were over 1.19 billion Facebook users, the growing number of Facebook users to 22 percent from 2012 to 2013 indicates that the number of Facebook users increases year over year. Facebook and other online social tools have integrated different types of communication techniques, and have made them available in a shared environment; for example, the number of worldwide mobile Facebook users has increased up to 680 million. Therefore, the statistics highlight the fact that Facebook is too big to be ignored. Facebook use in Malaysia is quite impressive; there are currently 13.3 million Facebook users in Malaysia (September 2013) equal to 49.83 per cent of Malaysia’s population. According to The Star, 2010 Malaysian are known to have the most numbers of friends on Facebook (Balakrishnan & Shamim, 2013). This medium is known as the most well-liked online social networking, particularly among college students. As it has been reported by previous studies 85-90% of college students use Facebook on a daily basis (Hargittai, 2008; Jones & Fox, 2009). Several communication methods are offered by Facebook that make it more attractive to absorb younger people. For example, it promotes users to exchange text and share photos, videos and news in a shared environment. In addition, it provides users with texting and joining in various groups and events.

Giving the dramatic growth of online social networks since their emergence, they have come to garner scholars’ attention to explore why these online social spaces are so popular among the young generation and what the students’ motivations are for using these websites. There are several studies that have aimed at identifying motivations for using the Internet (Metzger & Flanagin, 2002; Stafford, Stafford, & Lawrence, 2004; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2002). The number of these researches on the uses and gratifications of specific types of online communication is growing rapidly because the Internet is getting more deeply embedded in users’ lives and every day we witness new types of activities that people engage in online. Some studies have particularly focused on the Facebook motivations (boyd, 2004; Joinson, 2008; Lampe, Wash, Velasquez, & Ozkaya, 2010; Smock, Ellison, & Wohn, 2011; Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2009) and most of these studies applied theory of use and gratification in their framework of research because this approach usually deals with the question of “how” and “why” media users are motivated, and gratification is generally defined as some aspects of satisfaction gained by users in terms of active usage of the media (Stafford, Stafford & Lawrence, 2004). In a similar vein, one objective of this research is to answer to this question that why and how Malaysian college students use Facebook.


652

In addition, with the rising use of SNSs, certain studies have found that engaging in social networking on various social networking sites brings positive psychological outcomes (Burke, Marlow & Lento, 2010; Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007; Kim & Lee, 2011; Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe, 2008) and it is thought that uses and gratifications of online community are associated with psychological outcomes of the internet use like self-esteem (Ebeling-Witte et al., 2007; Ultz, 2010), well-being and life satisfaction (Ellison et al., 2007; Kross, et al., 2013). Life satisfaction as a multidisciplinary area of research is considered highly remarkable by sociologist, media studies and psychologist. Previous researches highlighted that life satisfaction and happiness partially is related to one’s social connectedness, and since the nature of Facebook is connecting individuals to their network of social ties so it is more likely Facebook users to experience the high level of life satisfaction (Valkenburg, Peter & Schouten, 2006). Certain studies, on the other hand, reported negative psychological consequences associated with using Facebook (Kross, et al., 2013; O’Keeffe & Clarke-Pearson, 2011; Pantic, et al., 2012). For example, a recent scholarship by Kross et al., 2013 included 82 young adults indicated that Facebook use continued to predict significant reduction in well-being when controlling for loneliness. The study found that those who used Facebook a lot were more likely to report a decline in satisfaction than those who visited the site infrequently. In contrast, there was a positive association between the amount of direct social contact a volunteer had and how positive he felt (Kross, 2013).

There are studies that identify the young adults’ behavior and motivations for using Facebook that conducted in Malaysia (Wong, Lean & Fernandez, 2011; Balakrishnan & Shamim, 2013). However, neither of these researches has predicted the association between certain motivations of Facebook use with life satisfaction. The life satisfaction may undergo ups and downs with different uses and gratifications; the central theme of the current study is to determine that which gratification obtained for Facebook uses contributes to predict life satisfaction. In addition, this study intended to examine the association between Facebook uses (including the number of Facebook friends and amount of spending time on Facebook) combining with Facebook gratification to see how these variables predict life satisfaction. Pursuing this argument, this study intends to develop the literature by identifying Facebook motivations and life satisfaction among Malaysian students age between 18 to 25 years old.

FACEBOOK PENETRATION Social networking sites intricately have penetrating students’ daily life. The past studies conducted, have remarked that the intensity use of Facebook including the amount of time spent on Facebook and the number of Facebook friends perform a decisive role in generating psychological outcomes. Studies reported that students spend an average of 10 to 60 minutes on Facebook daily (Ellison et al., 2007; Kim & Lee, 2011; Pempek et al., 2009). Studies also indicated that



653

students check their Facebook an average of 5.75 times daily (Junco, 2011). Similarly, studies found that students had between 150 and 350 friends on Facebook (Christofides, Muise & Desmarais, 2009; Ellison et al., 2007; Lewis & West, 2009). A Master thesis conducted (Rahimi-Mavi, 2012) based on a survey, including 1032 Malaysian undergraduate students in the University of Malaya demonstrated that students log on to Facebook an averaging of one to two hours daily and having between 200 to 250 Facebook friends. Some studies, however, reported that general use of Facebook, itself, does not predict of psychological outcomes, thus signifying the possibility that either mediating or moderating variables do exist (Hyun et al., 2013).

FACEBOOK USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY Uses and gratifications theory raise the question of ‘how and why’ of media use (Katz et al., 1974; Stafford et al., 2004). This theory refers to the motivations of certain uses, and the satisfaction people gain from such use. This theory suggests that individuals use technologies to gratify their social and psychological wants and needs (Rubin, 2002). Because the internet and particularly social networking sites (SNSs) offer an interactive environment, therefore most of theorists find uses and gratifications framework as an appropriate approach to explore users’ motivations (Stafford et al., 2003). In contrary of old media, the users of the Internet and SNSs in addition of being gratified from media content they may be gratified from their actual experience of using media (Joinson, 2008; Stafford et al., 2004). There are certain studies that have examined Internet consumer motives (Grant, 2005; Metzger & Flanagin, 2002; Stafford & Stafford, 2001; Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000).Facebook continues to boost variety environment to increase the potentials motivations for its users. As it can be seen, today, more globally, users embracing Facebook into daily life, and many researchers still dealing with the theory of the uses and gratification identifying Face bookers’ motivations (Joinson, 2008; Lampe et al., 2010; Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008; Smock, Ellison, & Wohn, 2011; Papacharissi & Mendelson, 2011). Facebook serves a number of purposes; Papacharissi and Mendelson (2011) reported nine motives behind Facebook usage: habitual pastime, relaxing entertainment, expressive information sharing, escapism, cool and new trend, companionship, professional advancement, social interaction and meeting new people.

In a well-known research by Ellison et al., (2007) on Facebook use by college students within campus environment and its effects on social capital; they appraised five motivations for individuals’ Facebook motivation: filling up free time, generating information (about events, trends and music), keeping in touch with previously stabilized relationships, meeting new people, and because everyone else is doing it (having multitude of friends). The results illustrated that “keeping in touch” was the most common gratification opportunity for Facebook user. Similarly, there are many other studies identify socializing with friends,


654

making new friends and maintaining relationships with offline contacts as the most Facebook motivations (Lewis et al., 2009).

In a study by (Quan-Hasse & Young, 2010) on undergraduate students conducted a comparative work examining gratifications obtained from Facebook and with those from instant message; their study discovered six significant gratifications from Facebook: pastime, affection, fashion, share problems, sociability, and social information. Comparative analysis indicated that Facebook is about having fun and the sociability occurring in one’s social network, while instant messaging is more about relationship maintenance and development.

Some studies on uses and gratifications draw distinctions between gratifications obtaining from Facebook and gratifications looking for. Gratifications obtaining refers to actual experience over the use of a certain medium, while gratifications looking for referring to those gratifications that users expect to gain from a medium before they have actually come into contact with it (DiMicco et al., 2008; Joinson, 2008; Quan-Hasse & Young, 2010).

There are studies that carried out in Malaysia on young adult Facebook users. In a study by Balakrishnan & Shamim (2013) factor analyses yielded five motives to use Facebook: Social Networking, Psychological Benefits, Entertainment, Self-Presentation and Skill Enhancement. A study conducted by Wong, Lean & Fernandez (2011) found that the ‘entertainment’ was the basic Facebook motivation among Malaysian age between 15-35 years old. The present study aims to seek out the key dimensions of gratifications behind Facebook use by Malaysian undergraduate students. In order to explore the possible motivations from Facebook the research address the following question:

RQ 1: What gratifications do students obtain from Facebook use?

LIFE SATISFACTION Life satisfaction is thought as the feeling of happiness and state of joy or positive emotion that an individual may possess it (Argyle, 1987). It is known as a subjective happiness or personal satisfaction, so the indicators of life satisfaction may differ from person to person; a different person may place different values on sources; people may see wealth, health, job, leisure, personal life and destination as sources of life satisfaction (Argyle, 1987). There are researchers that consider the life satisfaction as a common evaluation of individual’s surroundings which can be positive or negative (Scheufele & Shah, 2000).

Diener (1984) sheds light on objective perspective and subjective perspective of life satisfaction. He thought subjective predictors of life satisfaction affected by personality or dispositional factors like optimism, pessimism, isolation, self-worth, and neuroticism. On the other hand, the objective hypothesis suggests that life satisfaction is influenced by surrounding factors like family, career, leisure, neighbourhood, community and satisfaction with standard of living (Leung & Lee, 2005).

Technologies have always played a decisive role in the quality of life



655

(McPheat, 1996). Internet and communication technologies and social media are so central to form and reshape our lifestyle, leisure, entertainment, and social relationships. It is thought that dealing with online social networking can lead to positive outcomes like life satisfaction (Burke et al., 2010; Ellison et al., 2007; Kim & Lee, 2011; Steinfield, Ellison & Lampe, 2008; Valenzuela, Park, & Kee, 2009). In this regard, some theories stipulate that one’s life satisfaction, in part, is influenced by his or her social tie (Kahneman & Krueger, 2006), for example evaluating of happiness by one’s friend (Leary & Kowalsk, 1990); because the number of friends can be an important source of social support (boyd, 2004).

In order to examine the association between the Facebook use and life satisfaction, in the first stage, the majority of studies, have implied to test the relationship between social support and intensity of Facebook use (the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time use) and in the second stage they set to examine the association between perceived social support and life satisfaction (Hyun et al., 2013). However, the current study intends, first to test if the general use of Facebook predicts life satisfaction.

Q2: Does the number of Facebook friends and amount of time spent on Facebook positively predict life satisfaction?

Uses and gratification of media response to one’s psychological wants and needs in one hand, and on the other hand, satisfaction with online SNS uses leads to psychological outcomes like self-esteem (Ebeling-Witte et al., 2007; Ultz, 2010), well-being and life satisfaction (Ellison et al., 2007). However, the existing studies suffer from lack of presenting a specific theoretic framework on how SNS are as means of people’s happiness and life satisfaction. This study intends to shed light into the uses and gratification framework identifying which gratification opportunity of Facebook relates to the user’s life satisfaction. For example, communication and entertainment as obtained gratification from one’s Facebook interaction might be predictors of individuals’ life satisfaction. Extending this relation to the SNS use and life satisfaction with the underlying assumption that uses and gratifications of SNS continue to influence people’s life satisfaction may open a new outlook in human computer interactions and psychological research. This approach specifically, may transform existing views about factors of life satisfaction related to online media use. However, the resolution of the present study is to determine the association between satisfaction of Facebook use and satisfaction with life.

In the next phase, the study object Facebook gratifications in exposure of Facebook usage (The number of Facebook friends and amount of time spent) exploring that in what way life satisfaction would be predicted. Studies always have considered multiple factors to examine the association between Facebook use and psychological outcomes (Ellison et al., 2007; Forest & Wood, 2012; Hyun et al., 2013; Kross, et al., 2013; Manago et al., 2012)

Q3: Which predictors of Facebook gratification associate with students’ life satisfaction? Does combining the general uses of Facebook with Facebook


656

motives predict life satisfaction?

METHODOLOGY To fulfil the target of this study an online survey was distributed to college students at two public universities in the May 2012. Undergraduate students received an email through their official registered email that linked them to the online questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 798 respondents between age group 18 to 25. However, the response rate was 28.3 percent, which reveals a low rate of responses. There are two possibilities of low rate of responses for this study. First, it is assumed that students receive plenty of online surveys, which dramatically increase in the recent years, thus this has caused decreasing students’ willingness to complete surveys (Valenzuela et al., 2009; Sax et al., 2003). Second, since the students use the e-mail addresses provided to the registrar’s office, so it is rather likely that many students use these addresses rarely, than other personal e-mail accounts.

MEASUREMENTSDemographic variables, including age (Table 1.1) ranging from 18 to 25 years old (Mean = 21.37, SD = 1.845); gender (1 = female, 56.7 %, 2 = male, 43.3 %); race (1 = Malay, 51.7 %, 2 = Chinese, 34.9 %, 3 = Indian, 10.6 %, 4= others 2.8 %); year in college (1 = freshman 2 = sophomore, 3 = junior, 4 = senior); residency status (1 = on campus, 42.1 % , 2 = off campus 56.9 %).

Facebook usage, includes items examining duration of time spent on Facebook (Table 1.1), students were asked about how much time do they spend on Facebook on a typical day? (M = 5.30, SD = 1. 508). The response choices for the duration were arranged on a 7-point scale from 1 (not at all), 2 (less than 10 min), 3 (up to 30 min), 4 (more than 3hrs), 5 (1-2 hours), 6 (2-3 hours), 7 (more than 3 hours). They were also asked on how many total Facebook friends they have (M = 6.88, SD. = 345). The response choices for the number of friends ranged from 1 (less than 10), 2 (10-49), 3 (50-99), 4 (100-149), 5 (150-199), 6 (200-249), 7 (250-299), 8 ( 300-399), 9 (400 or more).

Table 1.1 Descriptive Statistics for Demographic and Facebook Use

Descriptive Statistics

N Percentage Mean Std. Deviation

Age 798 21.37 1.845

Gender1 = Female, 2 = Male,

796 56.7 %43.3 %



657

Race1 = Malay 2 = Chinese 3 = Indian 4 = Others

79651.7 %34.9 %10.6 %2.8 %

Year in college1 = Freshman 2 = Sophomore 3 = Junior 4 = Senior

79823.2 %37.9 %26.3 %12.6 %

Residency1 = On campus 2 = Off campus

797 43.1 %56.9 %

How much time do you log on to Facebook1=0 hour, 2=less than 10 min, 3=up to 30 min, 4= 30 min up to 1 hour5=1 to 2 hours, 6=2 to 3 hours, 7= more than 3 hours

797 5.30 1.508

How many total Facebook friends1=less than 10, 2=10-49, 3=50-99, 4=100-149, 5=150-199, 6=200-249, 7=250-299, 8=300-399, 9=400 or more

796 6.88 2.345

FACEBOOK MOTIVATION Media gratifications are the primal origin of motivations of all those audience members who attend to particular content. However, respondents in this research answered questions regarding gratifications that they gained from using social networking websites (Nyland, Marvez & Beck, 2007). For this part 22 gratifications statements were designed to measure the students’ gratifications (Chronbach’s alpha = 0.87). These statements were adopted from previous studies regarding the use of computer-mediated communication (Flanagin, 2005; Joinson, 2008; Lampe, Ellison & Steinfield, 2006; Nyland, Marvez & Beck, 2007; Rubin, 2002). The factors of Facebook motives are as following: Communication, Entertainment, social attention, shared identity, social investigation and information seeking. Participants reported how often they used social networking websites to fulfill these needs on a five-point Likert scale (1 = Never; 5 = Always).


658

Table 1.2 Factor Analysis of Facebook Motivation (Rotated Component Matrix)

Variance Chronbach’s alpha

Mean Std. Loading Factor

Entertainment 44.30 % 0.89

To pass time when I am bored 3.97 1.089 .833

Facebook can entertain me 3.94 1.27 .814

To play games 3.38 1.113 .780

I usually find out interesting things 3.89 1.68 775

To do something exciting 3.59 1.92 .625

Communication 10.54 % 0.87

It helps me to stay in touch with my friend 3.98 .993 .741

To socialize with the lecturers/ professors and my classmates 3.44 .998 .731

Helps me to Communicate with people I know 3.57 .951 .730

Social investigation 5.596 % 0.85

To meet new people 3.056 1.236 .683

To talk to people around the world 3.58 1.152 .504

Social attention 3.15 % 0.87

It makes me feel connected 3.55 1.012 .789

To expose my pictures 3.25 1.207 .765

To feel less lonely 3.89 1.605 .760

To status and express myself 3.17 1.609 .721

To feel important 3.68 1.114 .717

Shared identity 1.96 % 0.84

To join groups 3.94 1.036 .699

Communication with like-minded people 3.87 1.122 .689

To join events 3.51 1.054 .680

Information seeking 1.36 % 0.86

To get useful information 3.44 .958 .732

To share information that might be of use to others 3.51 1.001 .698

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.



659

LIFE SATISFACTIONIn order to examine students’ life satisfaction, a five short items (e. g., in most ways my life is close to my ideal) were designed. The scale (SWLS) adopted from Diener et al., (1985). This scale generally is used to measure a global cognitive judgment of individual’s life satisfaction. Table 1.3 shows the actual items for all the variables with their descriptive information and reliability scores. Using a five point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The reliability test for the scale showed high reliability with Cronbach’s alpha = 0.82.

The results of the factor analysis inserted in Table 1.3. The total value to measure the factors underscored at level .30. We extracted all five items accounting for variance 66.15 % including; So far I have gotten the important things I want in life, The condition of my life is excellent, I am satisfied with my life, If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing, In most ways my life is close to my ideal.

Table 1.3 Factor Analysis of Satisfaction with Life (Component Matrix)

Chronbach’s alpha = 0.82Variance = 66.151 % Mean Std. Factor

loading

Life satisfaction

So far I have gotten the important things I want in life 2.69 .990 837

The condition of my life is excellent 2.63 .962 .822

I am satisfied with my life 2.19 .928 .816

If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing 2.87 1.060 .805

In most ways my life is close to my ideal 2.39 1.013 .793

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis

RESEARCH FINDING The results of the current study of demographic values (Table 1.1) show that the highest participation for age was 21 years old with 18.8 percent participation. Most of participants were female (56.7 %). Summary statistic for race shows Malays (51.7 %) formed the majority of the respondents in this survey. The table also reports that most of the respondents were sophomore (37.9 %) and last but not least a widely number of students (56.9 %) lived out of campus. Summary statistics (Table 1.1) illustrate students spending between 1 and 2 hours on average daily on Facebook (Mean = 5.30, SD = 1. 508) and the participants describe having between 200 and 249 friends in their Facebook add list (M = 6.88).

RQ1: What gratifications do students obtain from Facebook use?


660

The result for Q1 is obtainable in Table 1.2. The 22 items were set into a principal-components factor analysis with Varimax rotation. To definite that the items are fitting for factor analysis the KMO test was applied. The result was .933. The number of factors were subjected to a factors’ eigenvalue exceed 1.0; then based on examination of the screen plot. In order to control the number of factors for each item, the screen plot test were used and the result shown that one major factor for each item. The absolute value for factor loading was measured at .30. All 21 variables simply loaded into six factors. The total variance extracted to 65.07 %. Factor 1 explained for Entertainment (to pass the time when I am bored, Facebook can entertain me, to play games, I usually find out interesting things in Facebook, to do something exciting, α = 0.89) this factor yielded to variance of 44.30. Factor 2 resulted to Communication with three items (It helps me to stay in touch with my friend, to socialize with my lecturers/ professors and my classmates, helps me to Communicate with people I know, α = 0.87) the variance totalled to 10.54 %. It was also observed the factor 3 for the item Social investigation; the variance of this factor was 5.59 %. Chronbach’s alpha for this factor was 0.84. Factor 4 defined for Social attention (It makes me feel connected, to post status and expose my pictures, to feel less lonely, to express myself, to feel important, α = 0.87). And the total variance for this factor counted for 3.15 %. Factor 5 for reflected for shared identity motive (join to events and groups) were detected with the variance 1.96 %. And Chronbach’s alpha was 0.87. Factor 6 detected for Information seeking with the variance of 1.36 % (to get useful information, to share information that might be useful for others, α = 0.86). Table 1.2 indicate a factor analysis of gratifications students obtained through using Facebook.

RQ2: Do the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent on Facebook positively predict life satisfaction?

To answer this question a regression analysis placed in order to answer the RQ1; finding out whether life satisfaction is predicted by the number of Facebook friends. Our results explored that the number of Facebook friends prompted R² for life satisfaction. The overall model was not significant Beta = .069, P> .05. So, the finding of this table does not support the association between the number of Facebook friends and life satisfaction.

Further, the regression equation was calculated to predict life satisfaction with time spent (Table 1.4). Time spent does not improve R² to predict life satisfaction. The overall model was insignificant Beta = .126, P> 0.05. So, according to the results of the table there is no association between times spent on Facebook and satisfaction with life.



661

Table 1.4 Regression Predicting Facebook Friends for Life Satisfaction

Independent variables Life Satisfaction

Beta t P

Number of Facebook friends .069 4.48 .174

Amount of time spent on Facebook .126 3.65 .315

F = 11.48, R2 = 027Coefficients are standardized Betas (β). +p < .10; *p >.05

RQ3: which predictors of Facebook gratification associate with students’ life satisfaction? Does combining the general uses of Facebook with Facebook motivations predict life satisfaction?

A final regression equation placed to identify the association between Facebook motives and life satisfaction. The results are displayed in Table 1.5. Our finding shown that, two main motives can predict life satisfaction. As it can be seen social attention is strongly associated with life satisfaction (Beta = 168, P < 0.05). Shared identity which adopted from Joinson (2008) also improved the R2 for life satisfaction (Beta = .333, P = < 0.05. Similarly, the number of friends and time spent based on Facebook motives were controlled. The result recognised that, once controlling Facebook friends relying on Facebook motives our dependent variable could be predicted ( B = .047, P< 0.05). So it is not fear to say that number of Facebook friends depend of type of interaction can influence psychological outcomes. In this study number of Facebook friends alongside with shared identity and social attention can positively predict life satisfaction. However, the table does not report any association between other obtained gratifications like communication, Entertainment, information and joining groups and events with satisfaction with life.

Table 1.5 Regression Predicting for Facebook Gratification

Independent variables Life Satisfaction

Beta t P

Number of Facebook friends 047 1.77 ٭081.

Amount of time spent -.005 -.691 .490

Communication .065 .881 .379

Entertainment .040 .703 .482

Social investigation .131 2.493 .275

Social attention .0168 3.229 ٭٭001.


662

Information .118 1.032 .178

Shared identity .333 3.580 ٭٭٭000.

F = 21.430 R2 = .145Coefficients are standardized Betas (β). +p < .10; *p < 0.05; ** p < .01;*** P < .001

DISCUSSION The result of this study in the first phase, rests on the identifying the gratifications undergraduate students obtaining from Facebook use. Then the underlying question were raised that if the obtained gratification from Facebook promote life satisfaction. In doing so, factor analysis was developed to understand what the most significant predictors for Facebook usage are. Our findings reported six motives, respectively, including entertainment, social attention, communication, information seeking, participation and social investigation. The findings of our study proceeding as follow:

The first emerging factor, entertainment, is the main gratification obtained from Facebook use by students reflecting many other findings (Flanagin, 2005; Ko et al., 2005; Pempek et al, 2009; Pennington, 2009; Sheldon, 2008; Leung L. , 2001; TUsan, 2012). Students find Facebook entertaining to pass time when they are bored, or play games. Furthermore, they usually find interesting things on Facebook. Facebook seems to stick pretty well to Malaysian students’ leisure time. Now, Facebook is more than just being poked by friends, tagging pictures and writing on the wall; Facebook is becoming an arena for social activities, providing users with playing games, sharing videos and with more app support and more content sharing.

Using Facebook for communication is the main motive that underlined by the findings of majority of the previous studies (Ellison et al., 2007; Joinson, 2008; Sheldon, 2008). Inconsistent with previous studies, this study found that Malaysian students use Facebook to stay in touch with their friends. Keeping in touch consists of surveillance functions; College students use Facebook to find out what old friends and contacts are doing, how they look and how they behave (Joinson, 2008; Lampe et al., 2006). Facebook is a way that users keeping in touch with old friends and to maintain relationships with existing contacts. Malaysian students benefit from Facebook even more to socialize with classmates, lecturers and professors. Facebook seems can be used as a tool to reshape student/teacher relationships (Hewitt & Forte , 2006).

Our findings of Facebook motives suggest that Malaysian students use Facebook for social investigation. This factor identified by Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield (2006) Facebook users wishing to use Facebook to meet new people. Although many suggest that to compare, many Facebook users, rather keeping in touch with their offline contacts than meet new ones.

Facebook provides great benefits for Malaysian students to seek social



663

attention. It supports individuals feeling connected and to feel less lonely. Facebook allows individuals to express themselves by posting status on their wall, and enable them to always upgrade their public figure, users seeking to be popular and important; constantly publishing their pictures and post their thoughts and expect to receive more comments from their friends. Stern (2004) suggested that youth wish to get self-validation by receiving feedbacks from their friends. Urista, Dong, & Day (2008) reported that getting a great number of comments on posts, photos or videos can make ones seem popular because of the amount of attention received.

Respondents of this study also reported that using Facebook for joining groups and joining or planning events. These activities are similar to ‘social browsing’ acknowledged by lamp et al., (2006) and ‘shared identity’ by Joinson (2008). Facebook provided users with events and group tools maximizing engagement. There are wide ranges of groups that individuals can join. Like faculty members groups; health care groups; civic groups; politic groups; music groups and etc. Individuals communicate with like-minded groups and interact with those having more common interests. In Facebook event, users are enabled to know about upcoming events like birthday parties or being updating about a musical band concert, likewise Facebook group members interact with each other and get updated by the leader of the group.

Facebook became as an information resource and allows individuals to use it for information seeking. Our findings suggest that Malaysian students either go to Facebook for their information needs. Students may use Facebook to be informed about the matters of faculty like examination venue. They may share information about academic ideas. However, seeking for information might not necessarily limit to the academic and educational. There are studies that have looked at how SNSs are used for information needs (DiMicco et al., 2008; Skeels & Grudin, 2009; Steinfield et al., 2009). A study by Lampe et al. (2012) suggests that, Facebook provides users with a number of possibilities related to information seeking. The number of network friends plays a part in information seeking. Another channel is mutual and group messaging, as well as network-wide interaction via status updates. Facebook also enables users to passively view the information-sharing and -seeking activities of their network via the News Feed and can respond to network members’ information requests, either by commenting directly on an update or through another channel (Lampe et al., 2012).

Our finding of the current study does not corroborate the association between the number of Facebook friends and life satisfaction. This may suggest that the quantity of network of friends is not a determinant factor in psychological outcomes. It is, actually, the quality of Facebook friends that may be basis in psychological outcomes. More specific, the type of friendship might be more important and this is in line with Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe’s (2011) argument that not all Facebook friends are actual friends. Moreover, it can also argue that


664

the type of web based activities are a better predictor for psychological outcomes (Burke, Marlow & Lento, 2010; Ellison, Steinfield & Lampe, 2007; Hyun et al., 2013) because individual use Facebook for variety range of purposes that can originate different psychological outcomes. Furthermore, the result of this study does not confirm the association between the amount of time spent on Facebook and Life satisfaction. The result supports the argument that the general uses of Facebook does not establish the psychological effects, and it can again argued that it is the quality of interaction that does matter in establishing psychological outcomes.

The existence of direct effects of Facebook use were examined, including the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent over the life satisfaction. The results detected neither the number of Facebook friends nor amount of times spent doesn’t predict life satisfaction. Then, to test the association between Facebook motives and life satisfaction, this study found that, once life satisfaction with Facebook motives were controlled, only two motives come across to predict the life satisfaction which is identified as shared identity and social attention. While, controlling both Facebook uses (number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent) and Facebook gratification, surprisingly, it was observed that life satisfaction is predicted by the number of Facebook friends, shared identity and social attention.

Finally, the result of the current study suggests that the size of Facebook friends cannot be as a direct predictor of life satisfaction, but when it is controlled by certain Facebook interactions and motivations could lead to effect the users’ life satisfaction and this finding is in line with previous research suggested by Hyun, Ozkaya & Robert (2013) about well-being and supportive interaction. It can be argued that interaction in groups and events can improve life satisfaction either with greater or lower number of Friends. Individuals join certain groups of interests, like health groups, cultural groups, learning or civic groups and so on. Interaction in groups and events possibly brings certain achievements and support whereby positive psychological outcomes are enhanced. For example, learning or sharing knowledge in variety groups, individuals may feel self-confidence and this might cause improving life satisfaction. Prior studies, also, confirmed this assume that social support perceived from Internet activities (Leung & Lee, 2005) and SNS interaction (Hyun, Ozkaya & Robert, 2013) positively associate with life satisfaction. On top of that, our findings also proposed that, social attention can predict life satisfaction. Therefore, it can be established the idea that, individuals who are seeking social attention through Facebook, with lower or greater number of friends, so, they benefit more from psychological outcomes and ultimately they are satisfied with their life. Facebook has enabled peer interactions; member can simply express themselves through forums. For example, individuals do different activities like sharing pictures; receiving numerous likes from friends, they might consider every single like as a credit and get self-validation by receiving feedbacks from their friends (Stern, 2004).



665

Studies have shown peer feedbacks rise positive psychological outcomes like self-esteem (Valkenburg, Peter & Schouten, 2006). However, it can be argued that the rational relationship between life satisfaction and social attention might be derived from feeling of self-validation that individual achieve from Facebook use.

However, other obtained gratifications including communication, social investigation, entertainment and information did not predict life satisfaction either positively or negatively. This means that not all benefits from online SNS interactions necessarily results into psychological outcomes. There are several possible justifications that adopted from Leung & Lee (2005) about Internet activities and life quality for Facebook use. First, Facebook is a less significant medium for close social communication than face-to-face interactions or even for other source of online communication like skyping or smart phones. Second, meeting new people and maintaining relationships through Facebook might are less significant and less sustaining than relationships that people have in their actual lives. Third, although, entertainment and leisure activities are the best predictors of life satisfaction (Lloyd & Auld, 2001) and Facebook though presents various possibilities entertaining users, but individuals may benefit the psychological outcomes of entertainment either from other online resources or offline leisure activities. Fourth, Facebook might be a useful tool linking people to sources of information, but, it is not used as the informal basic source.

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORKThe central aim of this study was to investigate an approach whereby students’ online social networking produces positive psychological outcomes. Basically, Facebook is a social site that is open to all and closely integrated into the daily experience of most undergraduate students in Malaysia. Plenty of studies have been conducted to investigate the real motives behind the Facebook use. Some studies reported positive outcomes and some studies found the negative consequences. In the present study, the association between the number of Facebook friends and the amount of time spent on Facebook with life satisfaction were analysed. The purpose of the current study was to investigate what gratifications Malaysian students obtain from Facebook uses. It was also probed to find out whether gratification obtaining from Facebook uses predicts life satisfaction. In doing so, the theory of the uses and gratification and the theory of life satisfaction were adopted. The findings of 798 participants explored the following gratification behind Facebook uses: entertainment, communication, social investigation social attention, shared identity and information seeking. However, this study failed to find direct association between number of Facebook friends and amount of time using with life satisfaction. The number of Facebook friends while controlling by Facebook motivations could predict life satisfaction. So, this study propounded the view that general uses of SNSs don’t meet the psychological effects, but the type of interaction is the matter. Finally, the findings of this study detected


666

shared identity and social attention as two obtaining gratification that predicted students’ life satisfaction.

The present research on general uses of Facebook combining with more specific measures capturing what people actually do on SNSs and psychological benefits achieving from social networking interactions, yielded important findings, but, still several limitations are notable. First, our research measured only positive interactions on Facebook, while there are studies as evidence of emerging negative consequences of social networking interactions (Kross, et al., 2013; Valkenburg, Peter & Schouten, 2006). So, the subsequent researches, however, should concentrate understanding the damages derived from social networking interactions. Second, this study did not use the demographic variables as predictor assessing Social networking usage and life satisfaction. For example, gender variable, ethnicity and household income might result in broad significant outcomes.

ABOUT THE AUTHORSHamedi M. Adnan is an Associate Professor in communication from the University of Malaya. He can be contacted at the following email address. [email protected] Rahimi Mavi is aDoctoral student at the University of Malaya. He can be contacted at [email protected].



667

REFERENCESArgyle, M. (1987). The psychology of happiness. London: Methuen.

Balakrishnan, V., & Shamim, A. (2013). Malaysian Facebookers: Motives and addictive behaviours unraveled. Computers in Human Behavior, 1342-1349.

boyd, D. (2004). Friendster and publicly articulated social networks. Conference on Human Factors and Computing System (CHI). Vienna: ACM.

Burke, M., Marlow, C., & Lento, T. (2010). Social network activity and social wellbeing. In Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on human factors in computing (1909–1912). New York: ACM.

Christofides, E., Muise, A., & Desmarais, S. (2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides ofthe same coin ortwo different processes? CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 12(3), 341–345.

Diene, E., Emmons, R., Larsen, R. J., & Griffi, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.

Diener, E. (1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95(3), 542-575.

DiMicco, J. M., Millen, D. R., Geyer, W., & Dugan, C. (2008). Motivations for social networking at work. Presented at Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer. San Diego, CA.

DiMicco, J. M., Millen, D. R., Geyer, W., & Dugan, C. (2008). Motivations for social networking at work. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. San Diego, CA.

Ebeling-Witte, S., Frank, M. L., & Lester, D. (2007). Shyness, Internet use, and personality. Cyber Psychology and Behaviour, 10, 713–716.

Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “Friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 12(4), 12(4), 1143-1168.

Ellison, N., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2011). Connection strategies: social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media & Society, 13, 873-892.

Flanagin, A. (2005). IM Online: Instant messaging use among college students. Communication Research Reports, 22(3), 175-187.

Forest , A. L., & Wood, J. V. (2012). When social networking is not working individuals with low self-esteem recognize but do not reap the benefits of self-disclosure on Facebook. Psychological Science, 25(2), 295–302.

Grant, I. C. (2005). Young peoples’relationship with online marketing practices practices: An intrusion too far? Journal of Marketing Management, 21(5/6), 607–623.

Hargittai, E. (2008). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), 276–297.


668

Hewitt , A., & Forte, A. (2006). Crossing boundaries: Identity management and student/faculty relationships on the Facebook. GVU Center, Georgia: Institute of Technology.

Hyun, J. O., Ozkaya, E., & Robert, L. (2013). How does online social networking enhance life satisfaction? The relationships among online supportive interaction, affect, perceived social support, sense of community, and life satisfaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 30, 69–78.

Joinson, A. N. (2008). ‘Looking at’, ‘Looking up’ or ‘Keeping up with’ People? CHI (1027-1036). Florence: ACM Press.

Jones, S., & Fox, S. (2009). Generations online in 2009. Retrieved 2 14, 2011, from Pew Internet and American Life Project: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/Generations-Online-in-2009.aspx

Junco, R. (2011). The relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Computers & Education, 58, 162–171.

Kahneman, D., & Krueger, A. B. (2006). Developments in the measurement of subjective well-being. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 20(1), 3–24.

Katz, E., Blumer, J., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass media by the individual. The Uses of Mass Communication, 9-34.

Kaye, B. K., & Johnson, T. J. (2003). From here to obscurity? Media substitution theory and traditional media in an on-line world. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 54(3), 260-273.

Kim, J., & Lee, J. E. (2011). The Facebook paths to happiness: Effects of the number of Facebook friends and self-presentation on subjective well-being. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 359–364.

Ko, H., Cho, C., & Roberts, M. S. (2005). Internet use and gratifications: A structural equationmodel of interactive advertising. Journal of Advertising, 34(2), 57-70.

Kross, E., et al. (2013, 8 14). Facebook Use Predicts Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. Retrieved 11 9, 2013, from Plosone: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0069841

Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C. A. (2006). Face(book) in the crowd: Social searching vs. social browsing. Proceedings of ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (167–170). ACM Press.

Lampe, C., Vitak, J., Gray, R., & Ellison, N. (2012). Perceptions of Facebook’s value as an information source. Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), (3195-3204). Austin, TX.

Lampe, C., Wash, R., Velasquez, A., & Ozkaya, E. (2010). Motivations to



669

participate in. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, Georgia, (1927–1936). New York.

Leary, M. R., & Kowalsk, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 34–47.

Leung , L., & Lee, P. N. (2005). Multiple determinants of life quality: The roles of Internet activities, use of new media, social support, and leisure activities. Telematics and Informatics, 22, 161–180.

Leung, L. (2001). College student motives for chatting on ICQ. New Media & Society, 3, 483-500.

Lewis, J., & West, A. (2009). Friending: London-based undergraduates’ experience of Facebook. New Media and Society, 11(7), 1209–1229.

Lloyd, K., & Auld, C. (2001). ‘The role of leisure in determining quality of life: Issues of content and measurement. Social Indicators Research, 57, 43-71.

Manago, A. M., Taylor, T., & Greenfield, P. M. (2012). Me and my 400 friends: The anatomy of college students’ Facebook networks, their communication patterns, and well-being. Developmental Psychology, 48, 369–380.

McPheat, D. (1996). Technology and life-quality. Social Indicators Research, 38-1, 29–52.

Metzger , M. J., & Flanagin, A. (2002). Audience orientations toward new media. Communication Research Report, 19(4), 338-351.

Nyland, R., Marvez, R., & Beck, J. (2007). Social networking or social isolation? Paper presented at the Midwinter Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Reno: NV.

O’Keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. Pediatrics, 27, 800–804.

Pantic, I., et al. (2012). Association between online social networking and depression in high school students: behavioral physiology viewpoint. Psychiatria Danubina, 24, 90-93.

Papacharissi, Z., & Mendelson, A. (2009). Toward a new(er) sociability: Uses. In S. Papathanassopoulos (Ed.), (212–230). New York: Routledge.

Papacharissi, Z., & Mendelson, A. (2011). Toward a new(er) sociability: Uses, gratifications and social capital on Facebook. In S. Papathanassopoulos (Ed.). Media perspectives for the 21st century, 212–230. New York: Routledge.

Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. (2000). Predictors of internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 175-196.

Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. (2002). The self online: The utility of personal home pages. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 44(2), 175-196.

Pempek, T. A., Yermolayeva, Y. A., & Calver, T. S. (2009). College


670

students’social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(3), 227–238.

Pennington, N. (2009). What it means to be a (Facebook) friend: Navigating friendship on social network sites. In Proceedings of The Annual Meeting of the NCA, Chicago,IL.

Quan-Hasse, A., & Young, A. L. (2010). Uses and gratifications of social media: A Comparison of Facebook and instant messaging. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 30, 350-361.

Raacke, J., & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: Applying the uses andgratifications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 11(2), 169-174.

Rahimi-Mavi, S. (2012). Facebook and social capital: An examination of Malaysian undergraduate in University of Malaya. (Master thesis): University Malaya, Media Department, Kuala Lumpur.

Rubin, A. M. (2002). The uses-and-gratifications perspective of media effects. Advances in theory and research. Mahwah,N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Sax, L. J., Gilmartin, S. K., & Bryant, A. N. (2003). Assessing response rates and nonresponse bias in web and paper surveys. Research in Higher Education, 44, 409–432.

Scheufele, D. A., & Shah, D. V. (2000). Personality strength and social capital: The role of dispositional and informational variables in the production of civic participation. Communication Research, 27, 107–131.

Sheldon, P. (2008). Student favorite:Facebook and motives for its use. Journal of Mass Communication, 23(2), 39–55.

Skeels, M. M., & Grudin, J. (2009). When social networks cross boundaries: A case study of workplace use of facebook and Linkedin. Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work, ACM, Sanibel Island, Florida.

Smock, A. D., Ellison, N. B., & Wohn, D. Y. (2011). Facebook as a toolkit: A uses and gratification approach tounbundling feature use. Computers in Human, 27, 2322–2329.

Stafford, T. F., & Stafford, M. R. (2001). Identifying motivations for the use of commercial websites. Information Resources Management Journal, 14(1), 22-30.

Stafford, T. F., Stafford, M. R. & Lawrence, S. L. (2004). Determining uses and gratifications for the Internet. Decisions Sciene, 35(2), 259-288.

Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 434–445.

Steinfield, C., DiMicco, J. M., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2009). Bowling online: Social networking and social capital within the organization.



671

Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Communities and Technologies. University Park, PA: 245-254

Stern, S. (2004). Studying youth online: Aconsideration of ethical issues. In E.A Buchanan (Ed.). Readings in virtual research ethics: Issues and controversies, (274–287). Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc.

TUsan, L. P. (2012). Motives for Facebook use and expressing ‘true self’ on the Internet. Computers in Human Behaviour,28, 28, 1510–1517.

Ultz, S. (2010). Show meyour friends and I will tell you what type of person you are: How one’s profile, number of friends,and type offriends influence impression formation on social network sites. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 15(1), 314–335.

Urista, M. A., Dong, Q., & Day, K. D. (2008). Explaining why young adults use Myspace and Facebook through uses and gratifications theory. Human Communication, 12(2), 215–229.

Valenzuela, S., Park, N., & Kee, K. F. (2009). Is there social capital in a social network?: Facebook use and college students’ life satisfaction, trust, and participation. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 875–901.

Valkenburg, P. M., Peter, J., & Schouten, A. P. (2006). Friend networking sites and their relationship to adolescents’well-being and social self-esteem. CyberPsychology & Behaviour, 9, 584–590.

Wong , F. M., Lean , M. L., & Fernandez, P. R. (2011). Social life connects the World: Malaysian youth’ usage behaviour of social network sites. International Journal of Arts & Sciences, 4(3), 157-178.


672

FACEBOOK SATISFACTION, LIFE SATISFACTION: MALAYSIAN ...

Documents

Transcript of FACEBOOK SATISFACTION, LIFE SATISFACTION: MALAYSIAN ...